I had two main reasons for going - 1) to meet one of the other IRSOF editors who lives elsewhere, and 2) to attend the Goth House/Morbid Tendencies tea party. I accomplished both, um sort of. I can pick Yoon Ha Lee out of a crowd now, and I know what her voice sounds like - but she had to dash off after her reading so I didn't actually get to introduce myself. I also went to the Tea, but I spent most of the time talking to Kirsti or Bluejack.
Yes! I ran into my friend Kirsti there - had no idea she was even planning to attend, so I owe one to the gods of Serendipity. Actually I owe them more than one, as things worked out such that I ran into a number of friends and acquaintances I had not seen for a while, and better yet didn't run into any of the people who turn convention-going into tedious torture for me. The only one of them I saw it was across the room, and I would have had to trample a fair number of people if I had leapt up and greeted her properly, so I remained demurely in my corner. The balcony of the room overlooked the hidden lake there behind the hotel; she probably would have even survived the fall. For one brief shining moment I thought she might electrocute herself with the toaster, but sadly she's an entirely different type of stupid.
Anyway, I can't really afford to commit too much mayhem - I feel like it is incumbent on me as Editor in Chief of IROSF to maintain a certain level of decorum as a representative of the magazine. Sigh. I felt like I did fairly well dealing with the crowds, at least. I took a little break between the reading and the tea and went of and sat in a corner doing crosswords for half an hour or so, which was very restorative. Then I got to the tea early enough to nail down a seat on the bed with my back to the wall, and there you go. I even got to help out as an impromptu coat check, since I had my backpack on the floor at my feet and was sitting on the bed by the door.
I think with planning and some preparation I can attempt to attend conventions again. It really is valuable in terms of author/editor relationships - people like that in-person contact. I'll even admit that I like having a voice for people's words. If I set things up to work around my limitations (like making sure I have decompression space, be it a room or whatever) I might even start to like it - oooh, scary! This time around, the one day was just about my speed.
